The Cliffs
by TheNextFolchart
Summary: When he was young, his best friend took him to the cliffs. /The same story told over and over (but it's never really the same, is it, love?)
1. before i fall

**before i fall.**

* * *

When he was young, his best friend took him to the cliffs.

"I don't know if this is a good idea," he said, but she dragged him there anyway.

"Come on, you big baby," she said, tugging him up to the very edge. "You won't _fall_."

"I might."

"I won't let you. I'll catch you before you fall. Don't _worry _so much."

"I can't help it. Angelina, _stop_. You know I'm afraid of heights."

"It's not even that high." She peered over the edge. "If you can see the ground, it isn't that high."

"I don't like this, Angelina."

"You'll be fine. Just don't let go of my hand."

"What, so you can drag me down with me if _you _fall?"

She rolled her eyes. "Roger. _Seriously. _You aren't going to fall."

He didn't say anything.

"Look, do this." Angelina backed up a few paces and then lay down on her stomach. "Now just inch your way up to the edge, until your whole head is over the side - like this - and look! It feels like you're flying. It feels _unreal_."

"If I wanted to fly," Roger said sourly, "I would buy a broomstick."

"Just try it," Angelina begged. "Just for a second."

And the truth was, he couldn't deny her anything, even at seven years old, so he flopped down on his stomach. The grass was long, and it found its way into the openings of his jumper and tickled at his skin. "Angelina, I hate this," he said, scooting up to the edge of the cliff. "Just so you know."

She squeezed his hand. "Just look down. Look down and remember you're safe."

And looking down made him feel dizzy and sick, but he did it anyway, and for nearly half a second he caught himself smiling.

* * *

"Are you nervous?"

He nodded. "You?"

"No."

"Not at all?"

They were at the cliffs again, sharing a mug of hot chocolate - sharing because Angelina had already finished hers, and she'd begged Roger until he gave in and let her take a sip of his - to celebrate their last night before Hogwarts. "Not at all," she said, motioning for him to hand her the mug. "I know I'll be a Gryffindor."

"But I might not be."

She shrugged. "So what? You'll be whatever you're meant to be."

"But if we aren't in the same house, we won't see each other very much anymore."

"We can still be friends. My mum's a Gryffindor and she still married my dad, didn't she? He was a Ravenclaw." She set the mug down in the grass. "Come on. Let's do that thing again."

"What thing?" But he already knew the answer.

"You know. Putting our heads over the edge."

When they were both settled on their stomachs, Roger spoke up again. "Angie?"

"Hm?"

"What if - I wonder if by tomorrow evening, everything will - you know, look different to me."

"Why would it?"

"What if your house makes you see the world differently?"

She snorted. "I see the world for exactly what it is. And no house is going to make me change my mind."

"I suppose." He swallowed as he looked down at the earth hundreds of feet below. "I wonder if I'll look different to other people."

Angelina didn't have an answer for that.

* * *

She ended up in Gryffindor, just as she'd predicted, and he was shuffled off into Ravenclaw, and they made eye contact when the Sorting was over, but that was all.

"Congratulations," a Ravenclaw prefect said to him with a smile. "You're going to do quite well here. All the Ravenclaws do."

Roger smiled. In the distance, he could see Angelina sitting next to a boy he thought was called Lee Jordan. "Thanks," he said to the Ravenclaw prefect. "I'm happy to be in this house."

But as he sipped at a steaming mug of hot chocolate, he couldn't help feeling like something was missing now that Angelina was absent from his side.

* * *

In spite of the promises, and the history, and the bonding at the top of the cliff, she didn't talk to him again for three years.

"So I hear you're Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team?"

He snapped his head up. "Angelina Johnson? Are you lost?" he asked sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes and sat down at his table in the library. "Don't give me that tone. I've been busy."

"Well, I'm honored that you found time in your schedule to speak to me again."

"I just wanted to congratulate you, that's all," she snapped. "On overcoming your fear of heights."

He nodded stiffly. "Thanks."

An awkward silence settled in around them.

"Well," he said, tapping his book, "got to get back to studying, I'm afraid. I'll see you around, maybe. During Quidditch."

"Yeah." She had a strange look on her face - almost like sadness, but the Angelina he remembered didn't get sad. "Yeah, I hope so."

Once she was gone, he breathed a sigh of relief.

(Because he was still afraid of heights.)

(But flying gave him almost the same sensation as lying at the top of that cliff.)

(And the terror of it all was worth it for the memory.)

* * *

And later - years later - after Hogwarts - after the war - after they were both married to other people - he was lying on his stomach, looking over the edge of their cliff, when she found him again.

"Roger?"

He didn't even look up. "Angelina."

"What are you doing here?" She came to sit next to him.

"I just come here sometimes. To think." _To pretend the world has ended, and I'm looking down on it from above, and I don't have to feel or think or worry or love you anymore._

"Oh." She cleared her throat. "Mind if I join you?"

"Go ahead."

She rolled onto her stomach and inched toward the edge. "I was thinking about you today," she admitted when she could see his face.

"Is that why you came here?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Well. You found me."

She gave him a half-smile. "I really liked you once, you know," she said.

_I really like you now._ "Did you?"

"Yes. I realized it for the first time up here, on this cliff."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

She laughed. "We were children. Things were complicated."

"No. Things were simple. Things were very, very simple."

She closed her eyes. "Take my hand, Roger."

He didn't want to (yes, he did, _desperately_) but he couldn't deny her anything, even after all this bloody time, so he did.

She smiled when his fingers touched hers. "Don't let me go."

"Why?" he asked after a moment, and there was a smile in his voice. "So you can drag me down with you if you fall?"

She laughed. "Truth is," she whispered. "I've already fallen."

And there wasn't a kiss.

There wasn't a declaration.

There wasn't anything but her holding his hand.

But it was enough.

* * *

_[Tien Len Competition: Four of Hearts - Roger Davies, absent, "Don't let go of my hand.", "Please tell me that this is the end of the world."- Alexisonfire 'We Are the End']_

_[Before I Fall Competition: Last Day One - Roges Davies, __"I wonder if by tomorrow evening everything will look different to me; I wonder if I'll look different to other people."__]_

_[Disney Character Competition: Kristoff - write about friendship. Prompt: Looking]_

_[Het-Pairing Boot Camp: time]_

_[Fiddler on the Roof Song Challenge: Do You Love Me? - write about a reaffirmation of vows (friendship)]_


	2. before you fall

**before you fall.**

* * *

_When he was young, his best friend took him to the cliffs._

_"I don't know if this is a good idea," he said, but she dragged him there anyway._

_"Come on, you big baby," she said, tugging him up to the very edge. "You won't fall."_

_"I might."_

_"I won't let you. I'll catch you before you fall. Just don't let go of my hand."_

* * *

When they called his name at the Sorting, Roger knew he was going to be sick.

"Go," Angelina whispered, giving him a little shove forward. "Roger, _go._"

He stumbled out to the chair where Professor McGonagall was waiting. "Sit down, Davies," she reminded him, and he sat.

"_Hmm, interesting_," the Sorting Hat murmured when it was snuggled around his ears. "_Very interesting, indeed. There is wisdom here beyond your years, Roger Davies._"

He could feel the eyes of every student in Hogwarts burning into him.

"_Yes, you'd do rather well in Ravenclaw, I think_."

But as the Hat drew breath to announce his new house, Roger whispered, "Wait."

"_Wait_?" the Hat repeated. "_Why?_"

He swallowed. "Do - do you want me to say it out loud?" he asked. "Or can you just - "

"_No, no, it's all here in your head," _the Hat said. "_There's a different house, isn't there._"

Roger didn't say anything.

"_A girl,_" the Hat mused. "_You would throw away Ravenclaw house for a girl._"

How long had he been here? A minute? An hour?

"_It's a foolish choice, Roger Davies. But such loyalty to your friend is admirable. I only hope you understand what you're giving up._"

"Giving up?"

But it was too late to change his mind, the Hat was already crying, "_GRYFFINDOR!_" and McGonagall was yanking the Hat from his head and pointing him toward the table decked in red and gold.

"Welcome to Gryffindor, mate," an orange-haired prefect said when he sat down. "You'll have a lot of fun here. All the Gryffindors do." He stuck out his hand. "I'm Charlie Weasley. Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team."

Roger took his hand and shook. "Quidditch?" he asked. "What position?"

"Seeker." Charlie looked quite excited. "What about you?"

"Oh - no," Roger said with a nervous laugh. "I don't play. I'm quite scared of heights."

McGonagall called Angelina's name, and suddenly he was nervous all over again.

"Really?" Charlie was saying, but Roger hardly heard. "You'll come around. Everyone does, after the first flying lesson. I'm sure we'll see you at tryouts next year."

"_GRYFFINDOR!_" the Hat yelled, and Roger's table erupted in applause.

"You'll definitely see her," he shouted to Charlie above the din, pointing to his friend, who had made a beeline for them. "Angelina Johnson. She's fearless." He slid over to make room for her on the bench.

"I told you we had nothing to worry about," she squealed, pulling Roger into a hug. "Both Gryffindors!"

"Hullo," Charlie said, leaning around Roger to offer Angelina a handshake. "I'm Charlie Weasley. Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Welcome to the greatest house in Hogwarts."

"Thanks!" She pumped his hand. "Quidditch, eh? I love Quidditch."

Charlie's face lit up. "You play?"

She shrugged. "A little. My dad taught me."

"Excellent!" He was still leaning forward to see around Roger. "Which position?"

"Chaser's my strongest, I s'pose. You?"

"Seeker. You should try out for the team when you're a second-year. We could use a Chaser, two of ours are leaving next year."

"I've always said Roger here would make a good Chaser," Angelina said, nudging her friend.

Roger gave her a tight-lipped smile and applauded as a boy called Lee Jordan joined the Gryffindors.

"Well, I hope you both try out," Charlie said.

"We will," Angelina promised with a grin, clapping Roger on the back.

(And he couldn't quite tell whether it was the thought of flying that was making him so dizzy, or whether it was just the way she was smiling at him.)

* * *

And the moment he blinked, it was seventh year, and it was about to be over, and he was somehow the Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and she was somehow Head Girl, and when had they grown up and _why _had they grown up and how was it possible that he'd been a Gryffindor for seven years and he was still afraid to confess how much he bloody _loved her_?

"D'you have a minute?" Angelina asked him one day in the library.

And no, he didn't have a minute, because his Potions NEWT was in the morning and he needed to study, but it was Angelina and he couldn't deny her anything, he'd never been able to deny her bloody anything - he'd given her his blessing to go out with Fred Weasley, and he'd given her a shoulder to cry on when Fred Weasley zoomed out of Hogwarts in a burst of fireworks - so he put the book down anyway and said, "Anything for you."

"Good. I want to show you something."

He followed her up seven flights of stairs to the Astronomy Tower. There was no moon, not tonight, but the stars were glowing and the grounds were deserted and it felt like they were the only two people in the world.

(And he hated it almost as much as he loved it, because they _weren't _the only two people in the world, not as long as Fred bloody Weasley was alive, not as long as she loved someone else.)

"Come over here," she said, beckoning. "There's a gap - well, I _made _a gap - in the stones."

"You did what?" Roger asked, amused.

"I - just look."

The cobblestone wall of the tower was built up to waist-height to prevent anyone from tripping over the edge. Angelina pointed at the floor, just at the base of the wall, where a large chunk of stone was mysteriously absent. "It's a hole," he said stupidly.

"Yes. Now watch." She lay down on her stomach and carefully pushed her head through the hole.

"_Oh_," Roger said, and he joined her, putting his head through the gap and looking straight down.

The height was no longer dizzying, the way it had been when he was seven. He'd flown higher than this in Quidditch matches. They both had.

"Take my hand," Angelina whispered anyway.

He did.

"Don't worry," he teased, but it didn't come out sounding like a tease, it came out sounding like a promise. "I'll catch you before you fall."

"Truth is," she said, staring straight at the ground, "I've already fallen." She turned her head to look at him. "I fell a long time ago."

He didn't dare to breathe. "Angelina, I - "

But she shifted her weight over, just a little, just enough to be able to reach him, and she drowned him in a kiss.

* * *

It didn't last.

Of course it didn't last.

Because he went off to join a professional Quidditch team, and she joined the Order and ran back into Fred's arms, and when she lost Fred, it was George who comforted her, and Roger Davies was just another name pressed between the pages of the past.

(He hated himself for not being there to comfort her himself.)

And after that - years later - after they were both married to other people - he was lying on his stomach, looking over the edge of their cliff, when she found him again.

"Roger?"

He didn't even look up. "Angelina."

"What are you doing here?" She came to sit next to him.

"I just come here sometimes. To think." _To pretend the world has ended, and I'm looking down on it from above, and I don't have to feel or think or worry or love you anymore._

"Oh." She cleared her throat. "Mind if I join you?"

"Go ahead."

She rolled onto her stomach and inched toward the edge. "I was thinking about you today," she admitted when she could see his face.

"Is that why you came here?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Well. You found me."

"I did, didn't I."

There was a silence.

"I hear you have kids," Roger said finally.

"Yes. Two. Roxanne and Fred."

"Fred?"

She nodded, and he didn't press the matter. "What about you?"

"No kids. Just Tricia."

"Tricia?"

"Patricia Stimpson. My wife. She was in our year."

"Oh." She bit her lip. "Do you ever wonder about what would have happened? If we'd done it all differently?"

"If we'd waited for each other, you mean?"

"Or if we'd never had to. If we hadn't spent seven years covering up the same feelings for each other."

"You had feelings for me?"

"Had? I still _have _them, Roger. And I should have told you ages ago, I should've told you on this cliff the night before we even went to Hogwarts, but everything was so complicated back then."

"No. Things were simple. Things were very, very simple." He reached out and took her hand. "I'm still here for you," he said. "I'll still catch you."

She let her eyes flicker closed. "Kiss me," she whispered, and it was so quiet that he wasn't sure he'd heard her right, wasn't sure he hadn't made it up in his head.

(But he kissed her anyway.)

* * *

And it wasn't anything more than one moment on top of a cliff.

And they both went back to their families when the sun went down.

But it was enough.

* * *

_[Tien Len Competition: Four of Hearts - Roger Davies, absent, "Don't let go of my hand.", "Please tell me that this is the end of the world."- Alexisonfire 'We Are the End']_

_[Before I Fall Competition: Last Day Two - Put Roger in a different house.]_

_[100 Prompts: Affair]_

_[Relationship Bingo Board Challenge: B3 - second chance]_

_[Fiddler on the Roof Character Challenge: __Mendel - write about a hidden crush.__]_


	3. before he falls

**before he falls.**

* * *

Arthur Weasley saw it all.

He knew Angelina Johnson well, even though he'd died before she and George had tied the knot. He'd initially met her at Fred and George's first Quidditch match, and it was nothing more than a passing, "Good luck," on his way to the change rooms to see his sons. But she'd come to the Burrow for Easter holidays one year, and Fred and George had stayed with her for two weeks in the summer, and she really was a sweet girl.

Which was why it was so hard to watch her cheat on her husband with the nobody lying on the cliff.

"Do you ever wonder what would have happened?" she was saying. Arthur, invisible to the rest of the world, leaned against a tree, arms folded across his chest. "If we'd done it all differently?"

The nobody shrugged. "If we'd waited for each other, you mean?"

(And it made Arthur's blood _boil _to hear him talk like that, as if his George was just a stepping stone for Angelina, as if her children and her family and her entire married_ life_ were just roadblocks on her way to this Roger bloody Davies, and all he had to do was _wait_.)

"Or if we'd never had to." Angelina's left hand was resting on the edge of the cliff. Her wedding ring glinted in the sunlight, and Arthur felt rage surge through him. He remembered the day she slid that ring onto her finger for the first time - he'd been dead, of course, but he'd slipped into the church and watched from the back row, and he'd heard every word of the wedding vows. "If we hadn't spent seven years covering up the same feelings for each other."

"You had feelings for me?" asked the nobody.

"Had?" Angelina repeated. "I still have them, Roger."

(Arthur thought it was quite lucky he was only a spirit, because if he had been able to affect the physical world, he would not have hesitated to push them both over the edge of the cliff.)

"I should've told you on this cliff, the night before we even went to Hogwarts."

"What about my son?" Arthur yelled. "When did you decide George isn't good enough for you?"

They didn't hear him. Of course they didn't.

"What about my son?" And this time it was a whisper, it was to himself, and for the first time since he'd been alive he could feel tears welling up behind his eyes. Because Fred was dead, and Charlie was ill, and Percy was unemployed, and Bill was broke, and why couldn't _one _of his sons get a bloody happy ending?

"But everything was so complicated back then."

And that word - _complicated_ - was the final straw.

"You think things were complicated _then_?" Arthur roared, and Angelina actually shivered slightly, as if she could feel his rage, as if she knew he was here. "What about now? What about your _children_? What about Roxanne, and Freddie? You'd leave them behind - you'd throw away your loving husband, and your loving children, and you _loving bloody family - _over _this_?" His hands were clenched into fists, and he couldn't explain the throbbing in his chest, because it felt almost like a heartbeat, but Merlin knew he hadn't had a heartbeat in years. "They all love you so much, Angelina," he said, and he was on his knees, because it was one thing to have your own heart broken, but watching someone break your child's heart is a different matter entirely, and it was _burning _him.

"Kiss me," Angelina whispered, and the nobody did, and Arthur let out a sob.

* * *

He followed her home that night, stood in her kitchen while she fixed dinner and hummed to herself and gave George a peck on the cheek. "I love you," she said to him, and George returned the sentiment, and Arthur could _smell _the poison on her tongue, and the only word in his head was _liar, liar, liar._

Just as they all sat down to eat, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" Roxanne volunteered, springing up from her chair, and Arthur barely flinched as she ran through his non-corporeal form to answer the door. "Mummy?" Roxanne asked when she returned a moment later. "It's a man. He says he wants to talk to you."

"A man?" Angelina said, and nobody but Arthur saw the way her eyes got a little wider, or the way her cheeks flushed, just a little. "I'll be right back, then," she said, rising from the table. Arthur followed her to the door, where the nobody was standing with his hands in his pockets. "Roger. What are you doing here?" she asked, voice hushed, and Arthur wished he could find a way to get George's attention.

_He's here, George. He's here, he's here, he's here._

"I had to come after you," the nobody said. "You don't understand - I'm not happy with Tricia. I don't love her. I never have. It's always been _you, _Angie. I spent years waiting for you, and now that I get the chance to have you, you want to leave me again. And I won't let you go without a fight."

"You're asking her to break her family apart," Arthur snapped.

"You're asking me to break my family apart," Angelina whispered, and for a second, Arthur wondered whether she could hear him after all.

"They'll be alright," the nobody said.

Angelina shook her head. "I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression," she said. "I had a crush on you once, a long time ago, and I never got to resolve those feelings. But I don't love you. I love my _husband. _And my _children. _And I'm going to have to ask you to get off my property before I get George involved."

Arthur stared at her, mouth hanging open.

"You asked me to kiss you," the nobody said after a moment of shocked silence.

"And I'm glad I did. Because now I know for sure: I don't love you, and I can't be with you."

"But - I'm going to leave Tricia for you," he said desperately.

Angelina actually laughed at that. "You're willing to leave your wife for another woman," she said, shaking her head. "So what happens when someone better than me comes along, hm? Are you going to up and leave then, too?"

(Arthur wasn't totally sure, but he thought Angelina might have just won the title of Favourite Daughter-In-Law.)

"You _know,_" the nobody said, "that it's not like that."

She laughed again. "Get off my porch," she said, making to close the door.

He stuck his foot out and seized her left shoulder. "You can't just change your mind like this!"

"I'm not changing my mind. Quite the opposite - I'm sticking to my wedding vows. Let go of me."

But he didn't. "You _have _to come with me," he hissed, and Arthur wanted to pull back his fist and punch the nobody in the jaw.

(Angelina beat him to it, and that was when Arthur _knew _she was the Favourite Daughter-In-Law.)

"Get off my property," she said again, and he slunk away into the darkness, one hand clutching his jaw.

"Who was that?" George asked when Angelina came back into the dining room.

"Friend from Hogwarts," Angelina said. "Just wanted to see how I was doing."

"And what'd you say?"

"Did you tell him about my loose tooth, Mummy?" Roxanne asked.

Angelina smiled. "I told him I'm very happy with my lovely family."

Arthur put a weightless hand on his son's shoulder. "Hold onto her, George," he said. "You'll have a happy ending yet."

* * *

_[Before I Fall Competition: Last Day Three - POV of Arthur Weasley]_

_[100 Prompts Challenge: __"I've spent years waiting for you and now you want to leave me. I won't let you go without a fight!"; cheating__]_

_[Disney Character Competition: Nani - write about Arthur Weasley. Prompt: Fist]_

_[Het-Pairings Boot Camp: ring]_

_[Twelve Days of Christmas Style Challenge: Five Eras - Next Gen (3/5)]_


End file.
